Opinion

Who could hate Gillette's campaign for positive masculinity? Men could

If the purpose of advertising is to get people to talk about your product, Gillette have really nailed it with their latest campaign for men’s razors.

The campaign, titled "The Best Men Can Be", was only launched two days ago, but it’s already attracted words like "controversy", "backlash" and "boycott" because of its outrageous decision to show men … being good bystanders and citizens?

A scene from Gillette's 'The Best Men Can Be' ad.Credit:Gillette

I know. Disgusting.

There have already been approximately five grillion words musing on the impact this ad has made, which is exactly what Proctor & Gamble would have hoped for when they came up with the concept. Not only does it capitalise on a zeitgeist moment (in this case, the #MeToo movement), it offers a narrative of change and positive growth.

Advertisement

I wasn’t at all surprised to learn its director was Australia’s own Kim Gehrig, the artist behind 2015’s This Girl Can campaign. As a piece of advertising, it’s manipulative as hell. But, as an artistic statement on society and the demonstrable capacity of men to be better than the behaviour that #MeToo has brought into the open, it’s a stunning piece of work.

Who could possibly fault a narrative in which men – the same people we’re often told are predominantly good and decent blokes who would never stand by while others are abused or harmed – are championed for exhibiting all of these traits?

Hoo boy. Readers, meet online manosphere.

Gillette has asked men to reject toxic masculinity in a new viral ad.Credit:Gillette

That’s right, an ad that literally features its narrator saying “we believe in the best in men” has instead broken the brains of millions of them. The dam holding back the tears of fragile dudes has collapsed, and we’re all bloody soaked.

Men can be good, Proctor & Gamble says.

"Not all men!" men's rights activists scream.

Hey, here are some positive examples of men stepping up, intervening and protecting children!

Fathers are important influences on their sons’ lives, and we celebrate the role they take in nurturing healthy masculinity!

Loading

"#F---Gillette, you PC-loving snowflakes, go woke go broke!"

Never forget that these are the same people who sneer whenever any marginalised group complains about the genuine and significant ways in which they’re discriminated against. I can’t even fathom the level of cognitive dissonance it must take to make those kinds of arguments while being so gripped by your own fragility that you would launch a blood vendetta against a brand because they suggested men might have a bit of a role to play in nurturing healthy masculinity.

Listen, there are lots of reasons to be sceptical of an ad campaign like this. As numerous people have pointed out across various discussion platforms, corporations capitalising on social justice movements are usually motivated less by cultural change than they are by profits.

Using the work of #MeToo to sell razors to men – or at least, to the women buying them for their partners and sons (at a fraction of the cost of those they’re buying for themselves: #pinktax) – is a cynical exercise. Messages of social change spruiked by giant conglomerates like this look good on the surface, but they’ll always be contradicted by the fact that capitalism and its worship of mass production fuels the very things they pretend to take "corporate responsibility" on.

But, in the context of the culture we live in and the reality that advertising forms a hugely influential part of it, ads like this can inspire some small amount of change, even when they sit alongside the uncomfortable realisation that it’s the audience and not the razor that’s the product being sold.

As author, commentator and award-winning ad creative Jane Caro told me, “This is now what brands must do. They must stand for something. Not only are they filling the vacuum left by our political leaders, but you can no longer bore your way into consumers’ heads. By standing for something, you get your audience to do your distribution for you via their own social media feeds whether they are for or against.”

Whichever way you slice it, Gillette has achieved its goal: it has millions of people talking about its product, sharing its ad (for free) and either praising or condemning them for aligning themselves with a social movement that they will point to as confirmation of their commitment to corporate responsibility.

And sure, the critical part of me wants to maintain some kind of rage over capitalistic beauty standards and how they’re enforced to make us all spend. But the feminist scold in me just loves bathing in the male tears.